1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for opening and closing a sliding door which is installed in a motor vehicle, and more particularly, to a system for opening and closing a sliding door, which includes a door-opened-status holding mechanism for allowing the sliding door to be held in an opened status and at the same time, enables manipulation of an inner handle for opening and closing the sliding door to be implemented in a convenient manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well known in the art, a sliding door which is installed in a van or the like, is opened and closed in a manner such that the sliding door is slid rearward and forward along a side of a vehicle body. Therefore, the sliding door is advantageous in that it is easy for an occupant to get on or get off a vehicle and opening and closing of the sliding door is not interfered by surroundings.
A conventional sliding door includes a door-closed-status holding mechanism for allowing the sliding door to be held in a closed status, a locking controller which is connected to the door-closed-status holding mechanism for controlling an operation of the door-closed-status holding mechanism, an inner handle assembly and an outside handle assembly which are connected to the locking controller for releasing the closed status of the sliding door, and a door safety locking knob which is connected to the locking controller for controlling the locking controller in such a way as to allow the sliding door to be locked in the closed status. If the sliding door which is in an opened status is closed, the sliding door is securely held in the closed status by the door-closed-status holding mechanism, in such a way as not to be opened by itself. If an inner handle or an outside handle is manipulated while the door is held in the closed status, the door-closed-status holding mechanism is unlocked and thereby the closed door can be opened. If the door safety locking knob is pressed, even when the inner handle or the outside handle is manipulated with the sliding door in the closed status, the door is not willing to be opened.
However, the conventional sliding door constructed as mentioned above is encountered with a problem in that, if the door is opened in a state wherein a motor vehicle is stopped on a downward slope, since the sliding door is closed by itself while being slid by its own weight, an occupant can be damaged by the door closed by itself, and in order to prevent this situation from occurring, the occupant must bear up the opened door.
To cope with this problem, an attempt has been made in which a door-opened-status holding mechanism for allowing a sliding door to be held in an opened status is installed in the sliding door. Nowadays, this type of sliding door having the door-opened-status holding mechanism is widely used throughout the world. In this regard, locking controllers, inner handles and outside handles which are necessary to control an operation of the door-opened-status holding mechanism, have been vigorously developed.
In an example, a sliding door latch control assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,363 assigned to Chrysler Corporation. In the sliding door latch control assembly, if an outside handle is pulled, a door-opened-status holding mechanism and a door-closed-status holding mechanism are simultaneously unlocked. Also, if a button which is provided to an inner handle, is pressed in a state wherein the inner handle is grasped, the door-opened-status holding mechanism and the door-closed-status holding mechanism are simultaneously unlocked.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,363, due to the fact that the outside handle is manipulated while a manipulator stands outside, a natural posture of the manipulator is not deteriorated. However, in the case of the inner handle, in order to open or close the sliding door, because the manipulator must slide the sliding door in a limited space while grasping the inner handle with one hand and pressing the button, cumbersomeness is induced upon manipulating the inner handle for opening or closing the sliding door.
In another attempt, if an inner handle is pulled in the same manner as an outside handle, a door-opened-status holding mechanism and a door-closed-status holding mechanism are simultaneously unlocked. However, this attempt still suffers from defects in that a procedure for opening and closing a sliding door is more complicated than the sliding door latch control assembly described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,363.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a system for opening and closing a sliding door, which enables manipulation of an inner handle for opening and closing the sliding door to be implemented in a convenient manner.
In order to achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for opening and closing a sliding door, characterized in that, when an inner handle is pivoted in a door opening direction in a state wherein a sliding door is closed, as the inner handle is pivoted from a neutral position in the door opening direction, a door-closed-status holding mechanism is unlocked by a locking controller; and that, when the inner handle is pivoted in a door closing direction in a state wherein the sliding door is opened, as the inner handle is pivoted from the neutral position in the door closing direction, a door-opened-status holding mechanism is unlocked by the locking controller.